[Functioning of a bone tissue bank in 1998].

Last few years, the french legislation and reglementation concerning donated human tissues, safety precautions, and human tissues' uses have been deeply modified. Therefore, tissue banks' organisation, processing of allograft tissue, and the way surgeons use frozen bone graft have changed. Accordingly, authors describe different obligations these activities implicate and practical consequences for tissue banks and surgeons. First, they recall 94' laws and the doctrinal and ethical principles essential to understand current laws and official standards. Then, they specify sanitary rules all tissue banks have to conform to. They detail the different approaches to recovery, processing, preservation and distribution of transplantable bone tissue and expose modalities of the financing by social organisms. It follows practical consequences in bank functioning: supplying, importation, internal organization. In conclusion, authors synthesize surgeon's responsibilities in that specific activity.